Nick Clegg says Mike Hancock will be thrown out by Lib Dems

MP Mike Hancock, who is to be thrown out of the Liberal Democrats (PA)

The disgraced MP Mike Hancock is to be thrown out of the Liberal Democrats, the party leader Nick Clegg has said.

Mr Hancock, the MP for Portsmouth South, issued a public apology in court this week to a vulnerable female constituent for making inappropriate sexual advances.

He who has already had the whip withdrawn in Parliament and his Lib Dem membership suspended.

Asked by the BBC whether the MP would be expelled from the party altogether, Mr Clegg replied: “Absolutely.”

He added: “I think it's very, very, very clear to me that he has no future as a member of the Liberal Democrats either, because he's apologised for causing immense distress to a vulnerable and innocent constituent of his.”

Speaking on LBC, Mr Clegg said Mr Hancock's behaviour as “totally and utterly out of order”.

Mr Clegg insisted he did not see letters the woman sent to his office in 2011, and said he was “frustrated” that they had “simply not reached him”.

He said: “I can only react to things that are put before me and when, in early 2013, specific allegations were brought to my attention, because the court proceedings were then under way, I acted very quickly, got it looked into and within a matter of weeks Mike Hancock was no longer an MP for the Liberal Democrats and, as you know, subsequently, was suspended.”